Dean Unick's Links

I observed somethng quietly profound a few months ago.
Years upon eons ago, it some times seems, having built a
beautiful house with a beautiful mud room at the back door to catch
and clean feet/people entering the house...... The mudroom
for its small size has four doors into it. T… Read full post »

Time. How shall it be measured, made?
That which no foot rule beside can be laid,
scale balanced, basket filled, or scoop amount,
so we close our eyes and to ourselves we count.
How many heartbeats, metered, seconds it will last,
for the scary, screeching freight tr… Read full post »

I have been involved in passive solar design since I was a
child. I marveled that on a sunny day how warm the house was
and how little the furnace ran. It was something of note to me
because one of my favourite tricks was to make a hot air
'turtle'… Read full post »

Working in Michigan winter beside the frozen pond,
Cold.........you hold everything inside tight,
keeps things, things from falling out.
Straw the ground to melt the frost,
the earth warmth slowly oozes up so I can dig.
Cold.....so cold every muscle is up and tight
to keep things, ju… Read full post »

There are energy 'improvements' that should never be. "A
20 year payback!" Bragged about in many publications
and ads, IS NOT A PAYBACK. It is a loss of principle and
interest. Paybacks of 3 to 5 years are
profitable. NO 'improvement' beyond seven years to
pa… Read full post »

I like night sails. Far from shore, with no glow from
land and man, the heavens wheeling about the North Star, the sun
pinned in the one spot in the heavens, just far enough north that
the sunset and sunrise are of exaggerated length and beauty. On… Read full post »

Well, believe it or not, this started out as a 'words
101'. It kinda grew, went its own way. And
somewhere along the process, and I am saying this from a writer to
a writer, I realized I had settled into 21 words per stanza,
30 syllables. I should set it… Read full post »

" State's law covers all
minors
But instead of following the lead of other states, which focus on
the abandonment of newborns, lawmakers here wanted to extend the
protection to all minors. And in Nebraska, that goes all the way up
to age… Read full post »

Will of the Wisp, Maid of the Mist,
I have a sailboat
And the sound when the speed is right just,
it is not a chuckle,
the sounds of small whispering boys
and hidden laughter
over a small boy like joke, small boy like joys,
and the water slides
and tumbles under the cutwater, the prow
no, no, it is… Read full post »

I don't know when a walk at night became my friend
to enjoy and Yet maybe yes, I do
The child walking to comfort the neighbor
Each night my bedroom lay across the field
she afraid of night, her husband gone before

A worst job? A worst
Job??? Well come on over here and set a
spell. Set your coffee cup up there on the barrel. That's it.
An' lemme tell you of the meaning of the Kentucky phrase, "Why, why
that ain't nothin' !"

Where or when did I learn? It was not just dry words in a
book.
It was I think, my Grandmother who taught me by the doing of.
It was near to Christmas time, sparkling chinks in the potbellied
stove,
Cold of night, handmade polished cotton quilts, braided… Read full post »